Tremendous analysis in the Black Commentator of Barack Obama's inability to take a serious position on Iraq, which should be of special interest here after the flap about the kossacks' response to his post a few months ago.
U.S. Senator Barack Obama has planted his feet deeply inside the Iraq war-prolongation camp of the Democratic Party, the great swamp that, if not drained, will swallow up any hope of victory over the GOP in next year's congressional elections. In a masterpiece of a double-speak before the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, November 22, the Black Illinois lawmaker managed to out-mush-mouth Sen. John Kerry - a prodigious feat, indeed.
Mr. Obama channels the DLC:
Obama's speech had the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) brand stamped all over it. Triangulating expertly, Obama first praised the war record of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), who has called for immediate steps towards U.S. military redeployment out of Iraq, hopefully in six months, then dismissed both Murtha's bill and any hint of "timetables" for withdrawal. In essence, all Obama wants from the Bush regime is that it fess up to having launched the war based on false information, and to henceforth come clean with the Senate on how it plans to proceed in the future. Those Democrats who want to dwell on the past - the actual genesis and rationale for the war, and the real reasons for its continuation - should be quiet.
Obama positions himself above the fray - all he wants from our war criminal president is a little honesty:
"The President could take the politics out of Iraq once and for all if he would simply go on television and say to the American people 'Yes, we made mistakes. Yes, there are things I would have done differently. But now that we're here, I am willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to find the most responsible way out.'"
It's not hard to satisfy Sen. Obama. If Bush would just stop repeating his lies to cover the fact that the Iraq war was premeditated, on the front-burner since his administration came to power, and therefore a crime against peace, well, we could all pretend like nothing criminal had happened - and was still happening.
And like Bush, he still wants "finish the job" in Iraq"
"In sum, we have to focus, methodically and without partisanship, on those steps that will: one, stabilize Iraq, avoid all out civil war, and give the factions within Iraq the space they need to forge a political settlement; two, contain and ultimately extinguish the insurgency in Iraq; and three, bring our troops safely home."
Nobody in the White House would argue with any of these points. Point number two in Obama's "pragmatic" baseline is, the containment and elimination of the "insurgency." Of course, one can only do that by continuing the war. Indeed, it appears that Obama and many of his colleagues are more intent on consulting the Bush men on the best ways to "win" the war than in effecting an American withdrawal at any foreseeable time.
They want "victory" just as much as the White House; they just don't want the word shouted at every press conference.
These Democrats would "perfect" the process. One might just as well perfect the act of rape.
That nails it - the fact is that our war and occupation is an immoral failure. The principled position is to end it ASAP.
But the likelihood grows that the Democratic party will fail to support a true policy shift in Iraq in time to affect their electoral fortunes:
Obama attempts to create new "benchmarks" to replace the Bush men's old "benchmarks" of progress in the war: elections, nominal transfers of power, etc. But it is all too late. Will there be a transition period to disentangle Halliburton and the other corporate contractors from Iraq, so that Iraqis can participate in their own reconstruction, as Obama proposes? How long a transition? There is no time, and never was. The United States invaded Iraq with no base of support within the country - just a gaggle of greedy CIA-funded exiles. The aggression's purpose was to create a corporate-ruled colony - a Houston on the Euphrates that would become a platform to new corporate colonies. It failed. Now, other forces are in play. Game over.
The Iraq adventure was step-one of a game plan - a history-shaking aggression - to destroy the existing world order and transform U.S. military supremacy into imperial sovereignty over vast new stretches of the globe. The people that are referred to as Iraqi "insurgents" stopped it cold, and the whole gambit is about to go into the deep freeze.
It is truly pitiful that the Bush men and DLC-centered Democrats cling to the hope that their Iraqi clients will rescue them from the debacle that was foreordained in March, 2003. Barack Obama has definitively joined the ranks of those who seek to prolong the agony. However, BC's critique is not "idealistic," as Sen. Obama might seek to paint it, but practical - "pragmatic," if you will. By late summer of 2006, when voters are deciding what they want their Senate and House to look like, if the Democrats have not caught up to public opinion to offer a tangible and quick exit from Iraq, the Republicans will retain control of both chambers of congress.
All that will be left in November is mush from Kerry, Hillary, Biden, Edwards - and Obama's - mouths.
The entire article is much longer and well worth reading in its entirety. Not simply for the critique of Barack Obama, but for the broader analysis of the bankruptcy of many - the majority? - of elected Democrats on the subject of Iraq.
All I can say is I hope their positions are still evolving and that they will realize the good sense and morality of Murtha, Feingold, and their allies soon. But I don't hold my breath.